Today is the Super Bowl and I couldn't be more apathetic toward it. It is inevitably going to be another spectacle of media blitzkrieg and minimal sports activity. With that in mind, I am going to list the ten best reasons why MLB's World Series is so much better than the NFL's Super Bowl.
1)There's no clock. The thing I hate the most about football is the clock. You can literally take a knee at the end of the game and win. That's such a cheap way to get a victory, by running down a clock. In baseball, to win a game, you have to complete 9 innings and record 27 outs. You can't just get the 26th out in a 2-1 game and say "we're going to win, lets just call it now." Nope, you have to play every out to get a win. Wins mean more, they count more.
2)You have to win more than one game. In the NFL, you can win 3 or 4 games and that's it, you're the champion. In MLB, you have to win 3 or 4 games just to win a series and move on to the next round. I know NFL fans will say the players cannot handle playing more than one game a week because of the physicality, but that also goes to hurt the sport. In my mind, winning one game on one given day really doesn't make you the best team when it's all said and done.
Anything can happen in one game. You can have the worst game of your life, and you get no more chances. In baseball, if a pitcher has a horrible start, well then there's Game 2. When teams have to win more than one game, you know you are beating all that the other team has to offer. You know after you have won that you have beaten them thoroughly.
Anything can happen in one game. You can have the worst game of your life, and you get no more chances. In baseball, if a pitcher has a horrible start, well then there's Game 2. When teams have to win more than one game, you know you are beating all that the other team has to offer. You know after you have won that you have beaten them thoroughly.
3)Teams get to play at home. It's really stupid that the NFL picks the Super Bowl site before the season. I mean, imagine if the Rangers and Giants had to play their World Series at Yankee Stadium just because the league decided that would be a great place to make tons of revenue. It would make every baseball fan angry to the point of revolt. Playing at home means something. The cities involved get that magical feeling, seeing their citizens come together and cheer in a packed house for their teams. It's a special experience that football cannot capture. Many of the "fans" at the Super Bowl are not fans of the teams that made the game, but won tickets from contests or went to the Super Bowl just for the experience. I think that's just ridiculous.
4)There isn't a corporate blitzkrieg. The World Series are still about the games. People don't tune in to a World Series broadcast hoping to see new commercials for products they already purchase. People are talking about the games the next day, and not the commercials or the halftime show. The purity left in baseball is still what makes it so great. Since the 1990's, the commercials have clearly dominated the game far more than the result of play.
That's a win for corporations, and a loss for intelligent sports fans. With baseball, you never have to worry about the commercials being more important than the game. It's almost as if the game is so bad, people can't wait for the commercials. Also with Baseball, there isn't going to be a sudden timeout in the middle of an inning to take a commercial break. That makes football really hard to watch. Baseball definitely wins here.
That's a win for corporations, and a loss for intelligent sports fans. With baseball, you never have to worry about the commercials being more important than the game. It's almost as if the game is so bad, people can't wait for the commercials. Also with Baseball, there isn't going to be a sudden timeout in the middle of an inning to take a commercial break. That makes football really hard to watch. Baseball definitely wins here.
5)Everyone gets to play. Teams build 25 man rosters for the post season and those guys all usually get a shot at playing in the World Series. Usually teams build a starting rotation of three or four players and the fifth starter from the regular season gets to join the bullpen and gets his opportunity in the 6th or 7th inning. With a 25 man roster, most guys will see action in the World Series. There won't be 30 guys sitting on the bench hoping to play if someone gets hurt. There will be players who win the Super Bowl who didn't play a single down of football in the playoffs. That's just lame.
6)You earned it after a long season. I am not an advocate for a longer NFL season, I am glad when it is finally over. I think with baseball, you really have to earn a post season berth more than any other league. You play 162 games, and sometimes teams are tied after that. In 2008 and 2009, the AL Central had to have a 163rd game to determine who goes to the post season and who goes home. Then you play a 5 game series in the LDS, a 7 game series in the LCS, and finally after a possibility of 175 games, you are there.
That much work to make the World Series makes the players appreciate the moment more. I think they understand that it is so hard to get there, that they will claw, fight and kill to put on the ring at the end of the season. Understanding that players who have reached this level have had to go through high school, college, multiple levels of the minor leagues just to get a shot to be on the team, you understand how baseball players have to work so much harder to achieve this goal. That makes it so much better when it comes.
That much work to make the World Series makes the players appreciate the moment more. I think they understand that it is so hard to get there, that they will claw, fight and kill to put on the ring at the end of the season. Understanding that players who have reached this level have had to go through high school, college, multiple levels of the minor leagues just to get a shot to be on the team, you understand how baseball players have to work so much harder to achieve this goal. That makes it so much better when it comes.
7)You don't have to let the other team hit just because you scored. Baseball, like a lot of pickup basketball, is winner outs. If you score, you're still up. You get to score consecutive points. In football, once you score, you have to give up the ball. You can go for an onside kick, but it's unlikely to get it. In baseball, if you want to route someone, you can do it all in one inning. This also means you are never out of it. You can come up down 5 runs in the 9th, and score those 5 runs. You don't have to hope you get an onside kick.
8)Penalties cannot take away runs scored. When you score a run, it's a run. Unless you passed the guy in front of you or ran way out of the baseline, your run counts. When you score a run cleanly, it can't be taken away because the guy running to first committed a penalty. Home runs aren't taken away because you were offsides, or committed a false start penalty. I love a quote by Jim Boudin: "Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field?" They aren't, because they don't do that. In baseball, you have to win because you scored more runs, and they aren't taken away on penalties.
9)Fans have a lot better chance going to World Series than Super Bowl. Since tickets to the Super Bowl cost a bazillion dollars, 99% of the people who want to attend cannot. Also, since most tickets are given away by corporations as prizes for contests, there aren't even a lot of tickets to be purchased in the first place. The World Series has up to seven games. These games are divided between two cities. You have ample opportunity to attend. Tickets may be a little steep, but won't break your bank account.
10)Baseball has a much longer, larger and greater tradition. When you win the World Series, you know you have just joined the greatest names in the history of the game. You know that you are a part of the puzzle that has been put together since 1903. Despite what the NHL says, the World Series trophy is the best trophy in sports. It has flags to represent all thirty teams. You know when you win that you have done something that is considered the hardest in sports to accomplish. You know it took all of the players you played with the entire season to get just the right combination of plays to win. Baseball is a game of inches and you came out on top by that much. Furthermore, this year we are seeing Super Bowl 45, and World Series 107. Enough said.
There are my top 10 reasons I believe the World Series is better than the NFL. The whole idea that the Super Bowl is great because the NFL, heavy handed corporations, ESPN and drunk people say so, that doesn't make it so. With the World Series, you don't have to sit through a really lousy halftime show, in which most of the vocals have been pre-recorded anyway. You don't have to sit through 5 hours of pre-game. Best of all, the winners of each LCS series don't have to wait two weeks to start the World Series! No pro football fan can talk poorly of NCAA for waiting to play when their own sport does the same. I realize most Americans have such a short attention span, that they cannot sit through a series like they can one game. That really just shows the sad state of American culture and social intelligence.
Baseball will always triumph over the NFL in an intellectual argument because it is a pure game. It's the purest sport left in America. When the Super Bowl ends, I will be excited because I know this signals the beginning of baseball season. Pitchers and Catchers report in less than eleven days. Let the game begin.
Baseball will always triumph over the NFL in an intellectual argument because it is a pure game. It's the purest sport left in America. When the Super Bowl ends, I will be excited because I know this signals the beginning of baseball season. Pitchers and Catchers report in less than eleven days. Let the game begin.
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